Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Laura Sandys Excerpts

Friday 20th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con)]

It is pleasure, although with a significant amount of disagreement, to follow the hon. Member for Blaydon (Mr Anderson). We must remember exactly where we have come from, not just where we are today. We inherited a total economic mess, and as with school reports, it is not just the overall score card that matters; it is the difference between the starting point and where we are today: unemployment from 8% in 2010 to 5.7% now; the deficit halved; and growth up to 2.5% this year, compared with a contraction of 5.2% in 2009. This is real progress, with some tangible outcomes for my constituents in Thanet.

I should like to plagiarise the Chancellor and say that, although I agree with him about the comeback country, with his help over the past five years, we have also been able to achieve the comeback constituency. His help specifically has been instrumental. He, my right hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr Willetts) and the leader of Kent county council were instrumental in helping us to deal with a major crisis in my constituency after the announcement that Pfizer was going to pull out of Sandwich. What did the action Chancellor and the action Prime Minister do? Within hours, we had a taskforce, driving through and delivering an enterprise zone, £40 million for small and medium-sized enterprises in east Kent and important upgrades of the rail service. Today, people from Sandwich can get to London in an hour and a half. Getting from Ramsgate to London will take just over an hour in the near future. SMEs across the constituency have interest-free loans and businesses are going from strength to strength.

Although I am extremely sad to leave and really love my constituency, I am pleased that my departure has further supported the local economy, with half the lobby spending a lot of time in the pubs in my constituency, desperately seeking Nigel and hunting down the Pub Landlord. I am pleased that my departure has offered the bars, restaurants and hotels such roaring business. At least, they will all welcome the 1p off beer and a reduction in the price of Scotch whisky.

Helping the people of South Thanet is something that I have been privileged to do. I love the attitude of the residents of Ramsgate, the pride of those in Broadstairs, the edginess of everyone from Cliftonville—they know exactly what I mean by that—and of course the charm and beauty of Sandwich and my villages. I hope that we might be able to demonstrate that we have made a difference in the past five years and that they will benefit in the future from a Conservative Member of Parliament and a Conservative Government, securing the progress that we have already made.

We have had a significant fall in jobseekers from 6.4% to 4.3%. We have the most successful and vibrant enterprise zone in the country. The Chancellor announced in the Budget that we would have a further extension of the enterprise zone in Sandwich, and we have secured £20 million to fund flood defences for Sandwich as well.

Of course, I would never have been able to make anything happen without my fabulous team, because nobody in this place works on their own; it is an individual business and an individual career, but with a huge amount of commitment from the people around us. I would like to thank them for that.

It is also the people in this House, friends and colleagues on both sides, who have contributed so much to my respect for this place and my ongoing commitment to raising its profile and ensuring that it has a better reputation among those outside. I will definitely be working with many Members in future, both those who are retiring and those who are returning. While I have been here I have been called Mrs Rubbish because of my interest in waste resource, and hopefully I have also raised the profile of epilepsy.

This is a strange place. I was christened here, so I have felt some connection with it from a very early age. But it is a place that needs to think again about what it wants and how it wants to encourage new people, new ideas and new diversity into it. It needs to think again about what makes it really special and not to be captured by the fear of change. Nostalgia is a dangerous think, because it often looks back and transposes historical references where they did not exist. Personally, I believe that we need to reduce the number of MPs and give them more fulfilling roles. Professionalism is to be aspired to, not shunned; a big ask, and there is still a long way to go.

I say this to the wonderful colleagues I have met on both sides of the House over the past five years: hold your heads up high, because no one else will. Hold the media to account by not playing the gossip column game but instead demanding that they report the serious stuff that really goes on here, because this House is occupied by some of the most honourable people I know.

I have learnt a lot about people, about politics and, most certainly, about myself. I want to thank the residents of South Thanet for giving me that privilege. Although I would like to have served longer than five years in this place, I hope that I have given my best to improve circumstances and lives across the constituency. I would like to thank the staff of the House, and I will miss those pesky little mice that run across my foot on the Terrace when I have breakfast in the morning.